Carts, such as laundry carts, are known in the art. Such carts are available in a wide variety of configurations and designs. One such type of cart includes a frame which may be formed from connected vertical and horizontal members.
The frame may be permanently assembled, such as by molding (in the case of a plastic material) or by welding. Alternatively, the frame may be assemblable with fasteners, such as bolts.
In such carts, baskets may be fixedly attached thereto, or the baskets may be slidable along rails of the cart to facilitate storage and retrieval of items stored therein. One example of a cart which includes slidable baskets and a frame assembled using fasteners is disclosed in Maurer et at., U.S. Pat. No. 5,294,009, entitled "Laundry Cart Apparatus," which patent is owned by the present applicants.
The cart disclosed in the aforementioned Maurer et al. patent includes connectable vertical and lateral frame members. The members are joined together using serrated, cylindrical fasteners or pins which are inserted into bores in the members when the members are adjacent to each other and the bores are aligned.
In a typical arrangement having, for example, four pairs of lateral members, thirty-two pins are required to assemble the cart. Moreover, although such a cart is readily assembled, removal of the pins, and thus disassembly may be difficult.
Other types of carts are assembled using standard metal or plastic nuts and bolts. Such methods of assembly, which require large numbers of small parts, makes for cumbersome and time consuming assembly. Also, of course, with such a large number of small parts, there is always the potential for losing parts necessary for assembly.
Still other types of carts are formed as integral or "one piece" units. Such carts are not readily assemblable and disassemblable, and thus lack the flexibility of the aforedescribed carts.
Thus, there continues to be a need for a flexible, easily assemblable and disassemblable cart, which uses a minimum number of different parts.